JUDITH LYNN STILLMAN
Pianist, Choral Conductor, Music Director, Composer/Arranger
Renowned for her "sweeping, energy-packed temperament and never-failing vivaciousness," pianist Judith Lynn Stillman has established an impressive international reputation, dazzling audiences on four continents.
Stillman's extensive recording career was launched with her first disc on the North Star Music label which has sold over 200,000 copies. Featured guest artist on the Borromeo String Quartet's "Living Archive" Series, Stillman has garnered an Indie Award and has recorded with Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra's concertmaster Martin Chalifour, and Philadelphia Orchestra's concertmaster David Kim and members of the the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Muir String Quartet. Stillman's SONY Classical recording with double Grammy award-winner Wynton Marsalis skyrocketed to the Top Ten on the Billboard charts and received rave reviews:
"Stillman and Marsalis make an impeccable duo. The playing consistently dazzles!" -San Francisco Examiner
"Stillman receives equal billing with Marsalis on the cover and deserves it-her playing is crisp and confident." -New York Daily News
"The wonderful Judith Lynn Stillman plays with conviction and insight. Her Honegger is brilliant, her Hindemith a model of clarity."-American Record Guide
Stilllman began playing piano by ear at the age of three, entered the Juilliard School on scholarship at age ten and went on to receive Bachelor's, Masters and Doctoral degrees from Juilliard. She was the youngest person ever admitted to Juilliard's doctoral program, and upon graduation was awarded the Dethier Prize for Outstanding Pianist.
Hailed as a "poetess of the piano," Stillman has received critical acclaim at venues including Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, NYC's 92nd Street "Y," and in major music festivals including Marlboro where she was selected for "Music for Marlboro" broadcasts, three fellowships to the Tanglewood Music Festival, 15 summers at The Grand Teton Music Festival, pianist-in-residence for the Lancaster Music Festival, where she was voted most popular artist in the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, Arts for the Soul, Cactus Pear Music Festival, Days of Music at Kfar Blum, Festival de Musique du Chambre, Lyon, France, Music Festival of the Hamptons, and festivals in the UK, Switzerland, Italy, Israel, and Costa Rica. Stillman has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras, including in a premiere at Avery Fisher Hall, the Juilliard Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Lancaster Festival Orchestra, Grand Teton Festival Orchestra, Tanglewood Festival Orchestra and L'Orchestre de Cote Basque and the Toulouse Symphony in France. Stillman was featured at the Grammy's celebration in honor of Rostropovich and at the Oscar's "Academy Awards Uniting Nations" in Hollywood, CA.
She has been heard often on National Public Radio, WQXR, WGBH's 'Morning Pro Musica" and "Classics in the Morning" and on WNCN, WNYC, WCRB, Kol Israel Radio, and as featured artist on NBC-TV.
Winner of 18 national and international competitions including the International American Music Scholarship Association's Competition, The Juilliard Concerto Competition, The National Arts Club Competition, The William Kappell Prize, and the International Recording Competition, Stillman is sought after as a collaborative artist and has been heard in recital with Mark O'Connor, Wynton Marsalis, Yossi Arnheim (Principal Flute, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra), Alan Baer (Principal Tuba, New York Philharmonic), Julia Bogorad (Principal Flute, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra), the Muir, Tokyo, Moscow, Borromeo, Veronika and Cassatt String Quartets, Marin Chalifour (Concertmaster, LA Philharmonic Orchestra), the Israel Philharmonic Chamber Players, the Jerusalem Trio, Cho-Liang Lin, Walter Trampler, Felix Galimir, Richard Stoltzman, Carol Wincenc, Paula Robison, Gil Kalish, Sara Sant' Ambrogio of the Eroica Trio, Broadway stars Gregg Edelman, Karen Mason, Tony Roberts, and many others. Stillman is a founding member of The Generations Trio, with violinist Dmitri Pogorelov and cellist John Sant' Ambrogio.
Stillman was awarded the First Annual Claiborne Pell Award for Excellence in the Arts, along with actor Jason Robards. Stillman has received the honor of performing for White House dignitaries, and was featured in Wynton Marsalis' autobiography, "Jazz and the Bittersweet Blues of Life," and in John Sant' Ambrogio's memoirs, "The Day I Nearly Destroyed the Boston Symphony." Judith Lynn Stillman received extensive media coverage on NBC-TV, ABC-TV, CBS-TV and all major cable networks in performance and interview, along with Herbie Hancock, as sound expert and concert performer for the BOSE Corporation. She recorded with famed fiddler Mark O'Connor for a virtual interactive exhibit at the SONY Wonder Museum in NYC.
Judith Lynn Stillman is currently the Artist-in-Residence and a Professor of Music at Rhode Island College, and was a member of the applied piano and chamber music faculties at New England Conservatory and at Brown University. She was named both the Maixner Professor for Outstanding Teaching and the Thorp Professor for Distinguished Scholarly and Creative Activity. A renowned pedagogue, Stillman has been visiting Artist-in-Residence at Arizona State University, Ohio University, Florida Atlantic University, in public schools presenting joint workshops with Wynton Marsalis, and as guest artist giving piano master classes at the Prague Conservatory of Music in the Czech Republic.
Stillman has served as music director and choral conductor in a number of venues including as Music Director and Chorus Master at Operafestival di Roma in Rome and Verona, Italy, Music Director for Bridgewater State College, The Sands Theatre, Academy Players, Trinity Rep, Torrey Pines Theatre, Small Opera Company of San Diego, All Children's Theatre, director for award winning choirs and shows (Gold Ratings in Gateway and Heritage Festivals, held by American College Theatre Festival/ Kennedy Center), and is currently Director of the Cumberland-Lincoln Community Chorus. She has received commissions as composer and arranger, and some of her works have been heard at Trinity Repertory Theatre, the Sandpoint Music Festival, and on a recently-released recording for the Cactus Pear Music Festival. Her mini-opera, "The Carriuolo Two-Step," was premiered at the inauguration of President Nancy Carriuolo at Rhode Island College. Stillman's solo piano sound track, "Piano Silhouettes," is heard regularly at the Providence Avon Cinema prior to all movie showings.
Judith Lynn Stillman's mentors and primary musical influences include pianists Leon Fleisher, Andre Watts, Rudolf Serkin, Sascha Gorodnitzki, Irwin Freundlich, Gaby Casadesus, Richard Goode, Claude Frank, Lillian Kallir, and Pnina Salzman in studies at Juilliard, The Rubin Academy in Israel, The Ravel Academy in France, Tanglewood, Marlboro and Yale School of Music at Norfolk; chamber music with Felix Galimir, Dorothy Delay, Pina Carmirelli and Peter Serkin at Marlboro, Juilliard and Aspen; vocal accompanying with Martin Isepp and Martin Katz at Juilliard and Yale School of Music at Norfolk; choral conductors Francisco Nunez and Martin Wright at the Metropolitan Opera's Urban Voices and San Diego Masterworks Chorale; and Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood.